Duty Calls: Navy vet finally awarded medals for D-Day heroics

Terry Brow, Times Union

By Terry Brown

Updated 7:12 am, Sunday, January 13, 2013

Dave Catallo
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Dave Catallo

Division of Military and naval affairs
Major Gen. Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general, presents the Adjutant General?s Award to Division of Military and Naval Affairs employee Folena Schumaker of East Greenbush during a ceremony in Latham.
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Division of Military and naval affairs
Major Gen. Patrick Murphy,...

Division of Military and naval affairs
Major Gen. Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general, presents the Adjutant General?s Award to Division of Military and Naval Affairs employee Robert Eckels of Albany during a ceremony in Latham.
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Dave Catallo, 88, of Waterford finally received two combat medals he earned 68 years ago when he was part of the first wave of Allied forces to land at Normandy on the coast of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944.

A former Navy hospital apprentice 1st class, Catallo received a Bronze Star medal and a Combat Medical Badge at a ceremony on Wednesday at LaSalle Institute in Troy.

Army 1st Sgt. Paul Peters told more than 30 family members, friends and cadets how Catallo earned the Bronze Star for meritorious service as a Navy medic by heroically treating wounded soldiers and helping evacuate casualties from Omaha Beach while under intense enemy fire.

Six hours after Catallo landed on the beach with the Army's 16th Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division, he was wounded by a German mortar round. Catallo had also treated wounded 5th Army Engineer Special Brigade soldiers.

All Catallo could recall about the explosion was that it threw him through the air and knocked him out. He was evacuated to a hospital in England where he awoke from a coma two weeks later.

After Catallo recovered from his wounds, he returned to his unit and combat duty. After the war, he worked for the U.S. Postal Service before retiring as a postmaster.

Brother Carl Malacalza gave welcoming remarks that included anecdotes from his friendship with Catallo.

In front of a Blue Star Service flag in the cafeteria, Cadet Michael Carlow played taps to honor Catallo's fellow 6th Naval Beach Battalion medics and doctors, and all service men and women who were killed in defense of the United States.

Catallo can now add two more medals to his shadow box that already displays a Purple Heart, the French Croix de Guerre, the French Legion of Honor, a Presidential Unit Citation, a World War II Victory medal and other medals.

Last year, Kenneth Daveyof Hopewell Junction, Dutchess County, an associate member and historian of the 6th Naval Beach Battalion Association, successfully requested that the Department of the Army correct an oversight of not awarding the Bronze Star and Combat Medical Badge to the battalion's 84 medical corpsmen and doctors. His father, Lt. Russell Davey survived the Normandy landing but died in 1948.

Excellent service awards

Two Capital Region residents have received the Adjutant General's Award for excellent service to the New York Army and Air National Guard.

The Adjutant General's Award is the top honor the Division of Military and Naval Affairs presents to civilian employees.

The Division of Military and Naval Affairs is the state agency that has responsibility for overseeing the operations of the 16,000 members of the New York Army and Air National Guard, as well as the 2,500-member New York Naval Militia and 1,000-member New York Guard, a state volunteer defense force.

Eckels earned the award for his work as assistant director of support in the agency's Administrative Support Directorate.

He has worked at the Division of Military and Naval Affairs in Latham since 1973, when he was hired as a federal employee of the National Guard.

Eckels' "work ethic and spirit of collaboration are instrumental in his work in leading teams identifying and implementing a number of process re-engineering improvements which are made necessary by expanding requirements and staff limitations," according to his award citation. "He passionately promotes continued improvement, staff development and customer support."

Eckels also served in the New York Army National Guard for 23 years before he retired as a master sergeant in 1993.

Schumaker has a key role in ensuring that citizen soldiers and airmen who are responding to a state emergency, like Superstorm Sandy, and ongoing missions such as the National Guard security mission in New York City, Joint Task Force Empire Shield, are paid.

"Schumaker has provided exemplary service in the conduct of her duties," according to the citation. She "goes beyond her normal duties to ensure that the service members are paid accurately and in a timely manner."